Anti-racism activist in London reports break-in attempt after far-right threats

Ulrike Schmidt, an activist with Stand Up to Racism and Amnesty International, was woken at 5am by a would-be intruder on her property. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

A key organiser of Walthamstow’s mass anti-racism rally on Wednesday has said someone tried to break into her home after she received threats on social media from the far right.

Ulrike Schmidt, an activist with Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) and Amnesty International, said she woke up at 5am on Friday to the sounds of someone trying to break into her home in the north-east London borough.

Passersby on their way to a nearby mosque for morning prayers challenged the would-be intruder, who smashed the window of a car parked outside the property and fled, she said.

Schmidt is now afraid to go out, with police initially not going to her home to investigate the attempted break-in and vandalism. Officers only attended after the Guardian contacted the Metropolitan police. The force has not yet provided a comment.

Schmidt had received threats on social media on Thursday after she was seen on video applauding Ricky Jones, a Labour councillor, for a speech in which he called for rightwing rioters throats to be cut.

X users quickly identified Schmidt and another woman, who has also received online threats. One X user commenting beneath the video, under the pseudonym Satanic Cult, said: “She’ll be delt with just now she’s got no protection we’ve her address.”

Jones, who was immediately suspended by the Labour party, was on Friday charged with encouraging violent disorder. Schmidt said she did not register Jones’s remarks as she was mentally preparing to give her own speech immediately after.

Schmidt volunteered with SUTR to help organise Wednesday’s anti-racist demo in Walthamstow, at which thousands turned out after Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau, an advice centre, was included in a list of potential targets of the far right.

Troublemakers did not appear, but sources have told the Guardian that some were present in crowds on the day.

Schmidt said: “They [the far-right] are feeling humiliated because they wanted to smash up the immigration office in Walthamstow. Now they are trying to get some satisfaction.”

She and the other organiser received threats after the video showing Jones making his remarks was boosted on social media by Nigel Farage and Elon Musk, “so it’s out internationally”, she said.

“We know there are elements among the far right who are hardcore Nazis and they are happy to kill,” she added.

“A billionaire and a millionaire MP have decided to get the bloodhounds and the police don’t seem to be interested.”